To clarify, the previous entry was in no way an attempt to prove that Obama is the better candidate. I know that economic policy choices will make an enormous difference in how the next administration affects our country. I also know that I don’t sufficiently understand our economy, or what it needs, to make a good determination along those lines. I am voting based on what I do know and understand.
That’s the idea: everyone is voting that way.
That’s my common ground with people whose politics appall me. Holding to that perspective keeps me from being so angry or anxious.
That’s what beauty does for me, and that’s what I’m doing here, trying to find the beauty.
Comments welcome, as always.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Love thy Republican as thy Self
I’m dreading voting day. Or rather, the day after. Will there be that cataclysmic disappointment, that same wondering who-the-hell-are-my-fellow-Americans as there was back in ’04?
In anticipation, I’ve done some soul-searching.
In my life today, there are some very wonderful people who I know are going to vote republican. This does not change my affection for them. I’m disturbed by the faceless masses, the ones ‘out there,’ the alleged 36 or 48 or 52 percent of Americans who think McCain/Palin is the way to go.
Just as I may be disturbing them.
I’m voting for Obama because of his interest in civil rights, that is, for example, early childhood education, legal abortion, legislation for gays. I think the world is a better place when women can trust they are covered for the 1% their birth control fails, where children can read and count and where people are encouraged to love.
This may be as crazy as voting for someone because of gun control, or the life of an embryo, or fear of terrorism.
I’m voting for the leader who makes me feel more safe and more free than the other.
Isn’t that what we are all doing?
If I can keep that in heart and mind, maybe this time I will stay whole when we learn which way the country is divided. Neither too glum, nor too gleeful, as the case may be. Rather, ready to build bridges. To somewhere. (wink)
In anticipation, I’ve done some soul-searching.
In my life today, there are some very wonderful people who I know are going to vote republican. This does not change my affection for them. I’m disturbed by the faceless masses, the ones ‘out there,’ the alleged 36 or 48 or 52 percent of Americans who think McCain/Palin is the way to go.
Just as I may be disturbing them.
I’m voting for Obama because of his interest in civil rights, that is, for example, early childhood education, legal abortion, legislation for gays. I think the world is a better place when women can trust they are covered for the 1% their birth control fails, where children can read and count and where people are encouraged to love.
This may be as crazy as voting for someone because of gun control, or the life of an embryo, or fear of terrorism.
I’m voting for the leader who makes me feel more safe and more free than the other.
Isn’t that what we are all doing?
If I can keep that in heart and mind, maybe this time I will stay whole when we learn which way the country is divided. Neither too glum, nor too gleeful, as the case may be. Rather, ready to build bridges. To somewhere. (wink)
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